Our Secret Weapon

Regarding our father, Jacob, it is written: "The voice is
the voice of Jacob" (Genesis 27:22). The Midrash Rabbah
comments:

"The voice is the voice of Jacob" - Jacob only rules
with his voice.

The Etz Yosef commentary explains that this is referring to
the voice of prayer and the voice that speaks words of
Torah.

Dear Friends,

We were enslaved in Egypt, a mighty empire and center of
world civilization. There was therefore a great shock to the
prevailing world order when we were miraculously
liberated from the bondage of Egypt and the mighty Egyptian
army was destroyed when the sea split for us and then
covered the Egyptians. As the Torah states, "Peoples heard
and trembled" (Exodus 15:14).

The rulers of the pagan nations felt particularly threatened
by the idea of the Liberating One Whom all nations and
rulers must serve. In fact, the most powerful of these
rulers viewed themselves as gods; thus, the universal vision
of the One God which our people represented was viewed as a
threat to their own power.

We officially assumed the role of the "outsider" when we
stood at Mount Sinai and received the Torah - the Divine
Teaching which proclaims the message of the Liberating One.
According to Jewish tradition, the hatred of the other
nations towards our nation began when we received the Torah
at Mount Sinai. In fact, the Talmud teaches that the name
"Sinai" alludes to "sinah" - hatred, for when the Torah was
given, the nations - with the exception of the righteous
among them - began to hate the People of Israel. (Shabbos
89a - See the commentary of "Iyun Yaacov")

The Midrash Rabbah tells the following story concerning the
pagan nations of that era: Representatives from all
these nations approached a leading philosopher of that era,
Avnimus, and asked him whether it was possible for them to
harm the new nation of Israel which was threatening the
pagan world order. He advised them to pass by the dwellings
where the People of Israel gather for prayer, as well as the
dwellings where they gather to study their Torah. He told
them that if they find there young children who are praying
and studying with their voices, they wil not be able to harm
this nation, for their father, Isaac, promised them and said
to them, "The voice is the voice of Jacob." As long as the
voice of Jacob was heard through these children, this
people could not be harmed. (Genesis Rabbah 65:20)

The philosopher, Avnimus, understood that the "voice" was
the "secret weapon" of the People of Israel especially when
this voice was found among the young children - the future
generation.

The messianic age of universal enlightenment and shalom has
not yet arrived; thus, even when we are forced to go into
battle against those who are attacking us, we need to
remember the real source of our strength. For example, King
David needed to go into battle, but unlike the sovereigns of
his era, he did not put his trust in military might. He
therefore proclaimed to our people the following message:
"Some with chariots, and some with horses, but we, in heName
of the Compassionate One, our God, call out!" (Psalm 20:8)